Leverage: Picking Up the Pieces
by Gilbert H. Karr
Summary: This is the story of what happened after the team left the tunnels upon completion of The Last Dam Job. It covers how the team deals with the injury of one of its members, and the events that set them on the path to Portland. Constructive comments welcome. No slash. Please R & R. Team fic, slightly Nate/Eliot centric. Thanks for reading. Enjoy. T for adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I don't own any part of Leverage or the characters portrayed within. I write these stories for fun, and make no profit. Reviews make my day, so please read and review. I don't write slash. Rated T for adult themes in later chapters. **

Walking back from the Dam, Hardison and Parker were still talking about the bat cave, even though Nate had said they weren't keeping it. Eliot was explaining that the 'cave' really wasn't theirs to keep, having been one of the old subway tunnels, which ran under Boston. Tunnels had run under seaside cities on the East Coast since the days of pirates. Many a hapless patron of the ale houses would imbibe a bit too much, only to pass out and upon waking, find himself with forced passage on a pirate ship, pressed into service for an indeterminate amount of time. There had even been rumors that layout of the old tunnels formed a map that pointed the way to Shangri-la, the floating pirate city, accessible only to pirates and filled to the brim with pirate gold. Eliot broke away from the two younger members of the team, and moved to catch up to Sophie and Nate. Eliot had seen Nate get shot, right before he started fighting with Latimer's man, the one who locked Jimmy Ford in the warehouse.

He was starting to wish he had killed Dubenich when he had the chance. If Sophie hadn't been there, he probably would have done it. Nate would have been angry, but he also would probably be uninjured right now. Eliot wanted to be sure his friend was well, though he thought Sophie would probably have let them all know it if he wasn't. Surprisingly, Sophie fell back a little when she realized Eliot was there, as though she sensed they needed this. In a low voice, Eliot said, "You all right, boss?", while his eyes appraised the bullet wound in Nate's shoulder.

"I'll live. I think I need a drink, to take the edge off," Nate said, a feeble attempt at humor.

Eliot's eyes were serious when he said, "I think you may need two or three. That bullet didn't go all the way through, which means I'm gonna have to retrieve it, unless, of course, you'd rather go to a hospital and probably back to jail."

Nate swallowed hard, imagining exactly what that meant. He tried to say several things, but they got lost on the way to his mouth. Finally, he settled on, "You _are_ the retrieval specialist."

Eliot allowed the corners of his mouth to turn up in a small smile, appreciative of the older man's attempts at levity. They did more to convince him that Nate would be all right than anything else he could have done. He was concerned about the blood loss, but there was nothing he could do until they were back in one of the several places where Eliot kept a fully stocked first aid kit.

They had had to walk into the tunnels, which was part of what made them so perfect for their purposes on the last job. No one could easily sneak up on them. That meant that they would also have to walk out, though, which could be rather painful for Nate, though he didn't seem to be in any immediate danger of bleeding to death. First things first, though. They had to find their way back to Lucille, and make sure it was safe to go back to Nate's apartment. And that was a pretty long drive to make with an injured man. Might be better to hole up somewhere for a while first, and tie up their loose ends, so to speak.

When they finally reached Hardison's van, Sophie spread a couple of blankets out in the back, and helped Nate lie down. Eliot hung back a bit and put a hand on Hardison's shoulder. When Hardison looked at him, he spoke in barely more than a whisper. "We need to lay low somewhere until we can figure out if Nate's place is safe. I need options." With those words, he climbed into the back, and knelt next to Nate on the floor of the van. Hardison, not being squeamish exactly, but also not really wanting to see what was happening in the back, sat in the middle seat, with his laptop open on the seat next to him, furiously typing.

"Hotel?"

"Preferably something a bit more private."

"Safe house it is, then. Let me see what I can find." Hardison clicked some keys on his keyboard and found three houses that might work in their general vicinity. He quickly pulled them up on the screen. Eliot looked over them silently, and then pointed to one of them.

"That one. Easily defensible, only one way in and out, way back off the beaten path. It is perfect."

Hardison clicked a few more keys, and finally said, "Okay. It is done. The house is ours."

Harison gave Sophie directions, and Eliot asked her to stop at a pharmacy on the way. He was in and out in five minutes, with a bag of supplies, which he promptly opened, inventoried, and added to the first aid kit he kept in Hardison's van. Nate couldn't help it. His eyes widened when he saw the supplies Eliot was placing in the kit. Eliot ducked his head, as he bit back a smile, amused at the other man's reaction. He started digging in the pack before him, and drew out a syringe, which he loaded with a local anesthesia. One by one he prepped the rest of the materials he would need, and then packed them back up. Since Nate was in no immediate danger, and didn't seem to be in shock, he preferred to wait until they stopped moving. A man with a gunshot wound could slip into shock awfully easily, so Eliot watched Nate carefully, monitoring his breathing and once in awhile grasping his wrist to take a pulse. When they finally stopped moving, Hardison moved around to help Eliot walk their leader inside, while Sophie and Parker brought along the first aid kit and cleaned up the back of the van. Nate insisted he wasn't hurt badly enough that they needed to help him walk, so Eliot sent Hardison ahead to make a space for them, and he contented himself with walking next to Nate and watching him like a hawk.

They had no way of getting the keys to the house tonight, and didn't want anyone to know they were there, anyway, especially not with an injured man, so Parker worked her magic with the locks, and then she and Hardison disappeared inside. By the time Eliot kicked the door aside so that he and Nate could walk in together, they had made a sort of pallet in one of the bedrooms with the blankets from the back of the van, and spread the tarp Eliot had bought at the drugstore out over the top. Eliot helped Nate remove his shirt, and seated him on the pallet. Quickly donning a pair of surgical gloves, Eliot laid out everything he needed first, so it was all close at hand.

"Look at me, Nate," he said, kneeling next to the mat, and his friend turned his head so he could meet the hitter's eyes.

"I have a sedative I picked up on my last trip to the jungle, if you want it. This is going to hurt like hell, even with the local, and there's no reason for you to stay awake for this. The sedative I have will put you under fast, and keep you dreaming while I am working."

"I don't want those dreams."

"The dreams are better than undergoing the physical and mental stress of having a bullet removed without anesthesia, or even a local."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"No. I don't want to be a liability to the team. What if we need to get out of here fast?"

"No one knows we're here. They will logically assume that we are going back to Boston. We'll be fine for a day or two. And we can get you out of here as easily asleep as we can awake. Don't worry about that."

Nate swallowed hard, not wanting to lose face in front of Eliot. He had come to admire Eliot greatly in the time they had worked together, and he cared what the younger man thought. He also knew that Eliot had had bullets removed without anesthesia in the past. Almost as if he read his boss's mind, Eliot said, "It isn't much fun having a bullet removed without anesthesia, or even with a local. Come on, man. Let me do this for you. The sedative is perfectly safe—well, mostly."

Truth be told, Nate didn't want to be awake for what was to come. But he had a niggling feeling in the back of his mind that something was about to go very wrong, and he wanted to be awake to help if they needed him. "I don't doubt that, Eliot, but I have a bad feeling about that last job. Maybe nothing happens, but if it does, we may need a new plan."

"What? You don't trust us to make a new plan if we need to? It isn't like we've learned nothing from you in all the time we've worked together."

"All right. If you think the sedative will make things easier, do it." Eliot teased the back of Nate's left hand until a vein popped up, and then inserted the IV needle, and slid the cannula over it. He withdrew the needle and taped the cannula into place. He started a saline drip to counteract the blood loss, and then piggybacked the sedative in the secondary port. Eliot watched Nate carefully, until his eyes closed, and then he made a neat incision with the scalpel to enlarge the hole. Blood welled out of the incision, and Eliot wiped it away with a piece of gauze. Now for the tricky part.

_The open air marketplace was bustling with activity. The colorful cloth covering the booths and the rising and falling of voices lent a cheerful atmosphere to the scene. Nate walked down the weathered boardwalk, his boots thumping on the wooden planks. As he drew closer to the marketplace, he smelled the wonderful fragrance of roasting meat, and the sharp, slightly sour smell of various types of alcohol. His stomach growled, and he suddenly realized that he had not eaten anything since early this morning. He followed the smells to a smallish, stone-walled, thatched roofed building. The air was damp, and stank of sweat and urine, mingled with booze. That smell, now that he was closer, almost overpowered the smell of cooked animal flesh. The streets in the small village were cobblestone, but when he stepped into the dim, chilly room, the floor was dirt, and the hundreds of feet that trod there through the years had packed it hard. It felt as though he had gone back in time almost four hundred years. _

"_Hello, Captain," the rotund barkeep said, sliding a shot of whiskey down the polished wooden bar. _

"_John," he said, nodding to the barman. "Where's Catherine?"_

"_She was in the back room a while ago, waiting for you." Nodding to the man behind the bar, he moved toward the back room. _

Eliot spoke softly, "Nate, I'm going after the bullet now. You'll probably feel this later." With that, Eliot inserted the forceps in his hand into the wound, and Nate groaned softly as it moved through the layers of muscle.

_Nate pushed the heavy oak door open, and strode through. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the signs of a violent struggle. There was no sign of Catherine, and he recognized the two unconscious men, jumbled up in the corner, as those of her father's entourage whom he usually sent to guard her when she went to town. Rolls of expensive silk cloth were destroyed and there were different kinds of powder spilled all over the floor. She hadn't gone quietly, his Catherine. He took a measure of pride in that. _

The bullet was lodged up against the bone, and when Eliot reached it, he latched on to it, and wrenched it out. Nate let out an explosive breath, and then started to hyperventilate.

_When he found the silver necklace he had given her last year, a necklace she never took off, lying in the corner and covered in blood, he sank to his knees and gathered it into his hand, and he felt the anger move through him like an electrical charge. He let out an explosive breath. When the anger passed, his breath caught in his throat, and he found he couldn't breathe. He began to hyperventilate._

"Easy," Eliot said to him, putting one hand between his friend's shoulder blades. "Focus on controlling your breathing."

_The Captain forced himself to calm down, resolving to find her, and he began searching the room for more clues as to who took her. On the floor, underneath the table, he found a half slip of paper, with a wax seal, and he thought he knew where she was. He stormed out the back door of the saloon, and ran back toward the docks, back toward his ship. He turned away from the path to his ship at the last moment, and headed down to the other end of the boardwalk. He reached a particular warehouse in the row next to the docks, and kicked the door in. As soon as he walked inside, a knife came flying through the air, and struck his shoulder. He watched in shock as his white shirt turned red with blood, and he felt the energy leaching from his body. He felt a hand on his head, forcing him to the ground, as another knife came flying through the air from somewhere behind him. He heard a groan, and then a loud thud, as someone heavy, hidden in the shadows, hit the ground. His vision dimmed as a shadowy figure moved past him, into the shadows where the person who threw the knife at him had fallen. A hand grasped his, and someone was gently slapping his cheek. He opened his eyes to see a long-haired man, with startling blue eyes and a full beard leaning over him. Then a hand reached out and helped him to his feet, and he said, "Thank you, Mister Spence. Eli Spence was his first officer, and was rapidly becoming a friend. The man was fully capable of having his own ship, and Nate was sure he would, one day, but for now, he was grateful for the man's skill and presence of mind to handle any situation that was thrown at him. _

"_Come on. We need to get you back to the ship." Nate put his hand on the hilt of the knife still in his shoulder, and a large, strong hand reached out and covered his."Leave it. I need a closer look at it, in better light, before we remove it." _


	3. Chapter 3

_When they returned to the ship, it was deserted, as all of the crew was on shore leave, except for the two watchmen, whom Eli Spence immediately sent below decks. He laid his Captain out on the deck, then drew a flask from his pocket, and his knife, which he used to cut a piece off of the animal skin of the main sail. He uncapped the flask and poured a liberal amount of the alcohol inside over the wound in his captain's shoulder, then supported his friend's head while he drank most of the rest of the flask. Afterwards, he tripled folded the animal skin patch, and placed it gently between his captain's teeth, instructing him to bite down. When he was satisfied that he had done all he could do, he grasped the knife firmly, and pulled it out. There was a lot of blood that welled out when the knife was removed. _

Suddenly, there was a lot more blood, and Eliot realized the bullet must have nicked the artery. Knowing he had to work quickly, he clamped off the artery and began sewing a row of neat stitches.

_Using the rest of the contents of the flask, he washed the blood away, and then put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. When he lifted his hand, he was relieved to see that the wound was not bleeding profusely. He threaded the smallest bone needle he could find with silk thread, and began stitching the wound. The Captain's whole body started trembling, and then he turned a bit to the side, and retched on the deck of the mighty ship. _

Nate began trembling slightly, and then more violently, and Eliot put an arm across his back to hold him still. He was a bit worried, concerned that Nate might be having an allergic reaction to the sedative, which he could handle, if necessary, but which would make Nate's recovery much harder, and delay their departure, possibly considerably. Nate's body stiffened, and then he retched on the floor beneath him. The tarp caught most of it, but the acrid stench of vomit filled the air. After he vomited, his body stilled, and breathing a sigh of relief, Eliot ignored the stench and continued his work.

Eliot finished sewing the artery and opened the clamp to check for bleeding. Satisfied when there wasn't any, he spoke again, "Nate, almost finished." Nate didn't answer, as he was still unconscious, but Eliot didn't expect an answer. He spoke more to himself that for the benefit of his friend.

"_Almost finished," Eli said to his captain. _

_ "Thank you, Mr. Spence." He yelled out as his First Mate dug particularly deeply in the surface skin, trying to find purchase to place the next stitch. He fell silent, and Eli thought, under these circumstances, he might ask a question of his own._

Eliot used his needle to pull the edges of the skin back together. He began sewing a row of neat stitches, and when he got to a particularly rough spot, Nate made a sound that might have passed for a yell had he been conscious, and then settled down again. "I'll bet you'll be glad you didn't stay awake for this when you wake up, huh?" Eliot said to the man before him.

_ "What were you doing in that warehouse, if I may ask, sir?"_

_ "Catherine has been taken. She was waiting for me in the back room of the saloon, according to the barkeep, but when I went back there, I only found her necklace, and a piece of a letter with a familiar wax seal. I thought it belonged to the man who owns that warehouse, a fierce pirate of my acquaintance, and if he does have her, she isn't safe. _

_ "When I finish here, I will take one or two of the men with me, with your permission, and we will find her, sir. We will bring her back, alive and well, or die trying"_

_He placed the last stitch, and then called to the guard, who was just coming up from below decks, and sent him to the kitchen. The guard came back a few minutes later with a stoneware jar, which he handed to Mr. Spence. Opening it, Mr. Spence turned it up over the wound he had just stitched, and poured the sticky liquid liberally over the wound, then bandaged it with a clean square of linen, which he tied in place with a leather strap around the captain's body, under his arms. _

_ "What is that?" asked the captain. _

_ "Honey. It has properties that will ward off infection."_

Eliot placed the last stitch, covered the stitches with a poultice to help ward off infection, and bandaged it. Then, gently, he rolled Nate to one side, sliding the bloodied tarp out from under him, and rearranged the blankets. Careful not to hurt his friend any more than necessary, Eliot settled Nate back down on the pallet and helped him lie on his back. He said, "That sedative will have you floating in and out for most of the day. You need to rest here for now, and let your blood volume begin to recover. Until it does, I am leaving the saline IV in. You also need to drink plenty of fluids. I'm going to clean up the mess we've made here, and then, if you are up to it, I am sure the rest of the team would like to see you.

_Eli helped the captain stand up, and supported his friend below decks to his cabin. There he helped the Captain lie down in his bed, and propped him up with some silk pillows, so that he had the option to either sleep or work as the notion struck him. "Sir, you need to rest. You've lost a lot of blood. Let yourself regain your strength. I'll have the cook bring down some broth, and I will check on you later. Right now, I am going to find Miss Catherine and bring her back here, so we can keep her safe." _


	4. Chapter 4

When Nate woke again, the team was gathered in the small bedroom. Hardison sat against the wall in the far corner of the smallish room, looking at something on his computer screen. Sophie sat next to the makeshift bed Nate was on, occasionally reaching out to stroke his forehead or wind her fingers through his hair. Eliot sat on the floor on the other side of the bed, legs crossed in front of him, still and quiet. He seemed to be meditating. And Parker was, well, Parker. She circled the room like a cat, not exactly pacing, but not physically able to be still. She would 'drop in' next to each person on the team at different times. No one seemed to mind, and her drop ins had stopped bothering the team after about the second job they pulled together. Normally, she'd be poking Eliot, or sitting somewhere high, watching Hardison play his games. No one noticed that Nate was awake, which was for the best, since he was really more asleep than awake, and he closed his eyes again and drifted back off.

_ One corner of the pirate ship's cargo hold was stacked floor to ceiling with wooden barrels containing various types of alcohol. There were burlap feed bags against one wall, and in another corner, several containers of gunpowder. A wooden chair sat in the middle of the cargo hold, and on the chair sat a beautiful woman, in a low cut velvet dress of a deep burgundy, bound and gagged. Eli Spence easily dispatched the guards posted at the door, then slipped in, and was hiding amidst the cargo, determining the best way to free her and get her off the ship. _

_ He slipped around behind her, and with his sharp knife, he cut the ropes that bound her hands, and putting a finger to his lips, they slipped out through the trap door. If he had thought it would be that easy to get off the ship, he was mistaken. As they made their way through the trap door and above decks, men poured out from every nook and cranny on the ship, men with knives and guns, and though Eli could handle himself, he wasn't looking forward to fighting all of them. The important thing was to get Catherine out of there, and be sure she was safe. Pushing her back into the shadows, and instructing her to stay there, he drew his knife and lunged at one of the pirate's men. After a while, he lost track of where the blows came from, and where all of his hits went, but eventually, every man that engaged him lay scattered around the room. _

_Grasping her hand tightly enough to make her wince, he dragged her down the hall, and up the narrow, rickety wooden staircase leading above decks. Her lace up boots were not made for running, and as she tried to keep up, she turned her ankle and cried out in pain. She didn't exactly fall, as he was holding her too tightly for her to go down, but he could tell that she was having trouble walking. He scooped her up, and carried her the rest of the way up the stairs, bursting out onto the main deck of the ship. There was no time to stop, so he more or less threw her over his shoulder, holding her legs with one hand, and keeping one free, in case it was needed. He sprinted across the gangplank, breathing a sigh of relief when they were back on the dock. Not sparing the time to put her down, he continued to run until he was back aboard his own ship. _

_Relieving the guards to continue their duties elsewhere, as he entered the Captain's cabin, he was glad to see that Nate seemed to be resting. He settled Catherine on a small sofa in the far corner of the Captain's office, and began unlacing her high heeled leather boot. Looking shocked, she scuttled backwards until she was against the far wall, and her gaze told him that she was rather surprised at his forwardness. _

_A look of mild annoyance crossed his face, and Catherine realized that Mr. Eli Spence was not a man used to having his motives questioned. With something that sounded a bit like a growl, he said, "I need to see to your ankle, ma'am." Staring at him for a moment longer, she nodded, and he again proceeded to untie her boot. She slipped it off, and then used his knife to cut a large square off of one of the bolts of linen they carried as cargo, and he cut it into strips and used it to wrap her ankle. When he was finished, she tested it, and found it sound. He had done a good job. _

_ "You won't be able to put your boot back on. The swelling will have been too bad." Not acknowledging what he said, she looked past him to where Nate was propped up on pillows, asleep._

_ "Is he injured? I've never seen him sleep during the day." Eli thought he knew what his boss would say if he answered her truthfully, but by the looks of her, he wouldn't be able to lie to her. Besides, he had no explanation besides the truth for why his captain and her lover might be sleeping in the middle of the day. _

_ Finally, he nodded, and said, "He got to the saloon and found you had been taken, so he went looking for you. He's not a man who takes kindly to losing what he cares about."_

_ "Yet it was you who found me."_

_ "That would be because they left someone behind in that warehouse. Someone who knows how to throw a knife. It hit him in the shoulder." _

_ Her eyes widened, and she covered her mouth with her hand. "Poor Nathan," she said softly, then in a louder voice, for Eli's benefit, "Will he recover?"_

"_There's no way to know yet, but the surgery went well, and I put honey on the wound to ward off infection. Yes, I think he will be well."_

"_I'm glad." With that, she seated herself in the chair next to his bed, and sat holding his hand for a few moments. _


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: So, I thought this story was going to end in 5 Chapters, as the original one was written with only five chapters, but it seems my characters have had other ideas, adding their own bits here and there, so it looks like there will be one or two more chapters after this one. There's still some of this story to tell. **

**The usual disclaimers about ownership and profit apply. **

**Thanks to all of those who have read, and a special thank you to those who have taken the time to review. I take writing seriously, and reviews help me hone my craft. They also make my day, so please keep them coming. I hope you all are enjoying reading this story as much as I am enjoying writing it for you. Without further ado, Chapter 5: **

Nate's eyes opened again to find Sophie holding his hand. She smiled and squeezed the hand in question gently, and he smiled back. He felt the IV line move, and his eyes slid over to the other side of the bed, where Eliot was working to replace the saline bag. The sedative was gone, and he wondered how long it had been gone, and if that meant he would be able to stay awake for a while now. He couldn't really remember what he had been dreaming about, but he thought the dreams had been pleasant. The questioning look on Nate's face wasn't lost on Eliot, and he spoke quietly.

"Nate, I'm replacing the saline because it will help counteract blood loss. The sedative is still working its way out of your system, which is why you are so sleepy. Let yourself rest, your body needs it. We will be here when you wake up."

Rest sounded like a good idea, and Nate couldn't seem to keep his mind focused anyway, so he stopped fighting his eyelids' propensity to close on their own, and drifted off to sleep again.

_ When Nate opened his eyes, he thought he felt the ship moving. How was that possible, without her Captain? He had given no orders for them to go anywhere. He had been looking forward to spending some time in their port of choice, with some real food and Catherine. His eyes darted around the room. He thought he remembered Catherine being here, but if she was there, she must have decided not to stay and wait for him to wake up. He heard a groan, and his eyes sought the location of the sound. A moment later, Eli Spence came into his line of vision as he rose from the floor of Nate's quarters. _

_ "Mister Spence, what happened?"_

_ Eli Spence rubbed the back of his head, checking for blood, as he said, "The Pirate, Captain Steele, apparently noticed Catherine was gone and came looking for her. We were expecting him to come, but what we weren't expecting was for him to round up all of the crew in their transit back to the ship, and leave us with no way to fight back. He brought fifteen men with him. There were only four of us—the cook and the two guards who stayed aboard ship and me. He knocked us out, took Catherine, and as he made his way out of port, he fired the cannons at us. I think that was probably what woke you."_

_ "Damage?" Nate snapped, furious. _

_ "He wasn't close enough to sink us—he fired a glancing blow to disable us. We are on our way to the shipyards. The ship-builder in this port is an acquaintance of mine. He said it wouldn't take too long for repairs. She's under tow now, he can repair the damage in about an hour, and then we'll be off to go and get the crew and Catherine back." He hung his head. "I'm sorry we couldn't protect her, sir."_

_ Nate shook his head. "Four against fifteen?" The odds were hardly fair." Seeing the look on the younger man's face, he said, "Don't worry, Mister Spence. All hope is not yet lost. We'll get her back. And I will put an end to Captain Steele's pirating ways once and for all." He looked up at the younger man, with an unreadable expression. "We'll need a crew."_

_ "How, sir?"  
>"I've sailed into and out of this port for four years now, and this ship is largely what has kept the pirates from taking control of this port, and either killing or enslaving the people. You should be able to gather an adequate crew from amongst the townspeople. You may remind them of what this ship has done for them and for their way of life, if you must. You said it would take your friend an hour to repair the ship. You have that long to find me a full crew."<em>

_ "Yes, sir." _

_ The two men whom Catherine's father had assigned to protect her were among the first to volunteer. John, the barkeep, offered to close the bar and come along, but he was well past middle age, his bulk combined with a bum leg made him slow, and his sight was no longer as good as it once was, so he stayed behind with Eli's blessing, promising to have a round of drinks and some hot food waiting for them when they returned. Slowly, the crew was gathered, and they all met at the shipyards, at just about the same time that repairs were completed on the ship. Eli was surprised to see Nate standing on the main deck when they boarded the ship. He cleared his throat, preparing to say something, but Nate cut him off with a glare and a quick shake of his head. _

_ "Mister Spence, I need you to go below decks and be sure the new cannons are installed properly." _

_ New cannons? Eli didn't argue; he just shot a concerned look over his shoulder to his captain as he turned and made his way down the steep staircase that led below decks. _

_ Nate got the rest of the men settled, and was about to give the command to leave port when he heard something from the dock below the great ship. "Permission to come ABOOOOAAAARRRDDD?" He looked over the side of the ship to see Catherine's father standing on the dock below. Nate nodded at one of the new crew members, who lowered the newly pulled up gangplank, and a moment later, Catherine's father had boarded the ship._

_ The two men looked one another over, up and down, and it was a moment's work for Catherine's father to assess the younger man's injuries, even though they were covered and he was fighting to hide them well. _

_ "You're injured," Catherine's father said. "I wondered how they had managed to get her off your ship."_

_ "Why are you here?" Nate snapped. _

_ Raising an eyebrow, Catherine's father said, "I came to offer my services, to help get my daughter back. You must be more injured than I formerly thought, judging by your intemperance. Why don't you retire to your quarters? I can handle the journey at least, and you will be more rested when we get there."_

_ Nate looked at the man before him with a look that could melt lead. "Do you even know where he took her?" _

_ Catherine's father was silent for a long moment, gazing at the younger man. He decided his daughter's suitor looked ten years older than the last time he saw him. _

_ "I thought not," Nate said. The two stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity, and then Nate sighed and said, "I'll go to my quarters when the work is done, and we are underway. Mister Spence, my first mate, is below decks checking the new weaponry I obtained for this trip. If you wish to help, you may assist him. Otherwise, I will ask you to report to the quartermaster for a cabin assignment, and then I'll ask you to go to your quarters and stay there, until you are needed." He paused, considering what else to say, and as the older man turned to leave, he spoke again, "Sir, I apologize for my intemperance, and I appreciate your help. We have much to do before we can get underway, and the longer it takes us to get out of port, the more of a head start he has, and the harder it will be to follow him. I can't do what I need to do and worry about my physical condition at the same time."_

_ "I understand, Captain," he said, flashing a smile. "I will go and help your Mister Spence. I would appreciate the opportunity to speak with you later." He bowed his head. _

_ Nate bowed back. "I would find that agreeable." He watched as Catherine's father disappeared below decks, and then reached out and grasped the railing of the large ship to keep from sinking to his knees right there on the deck. _

Nate woke again, barely, as he felt himself being picked up. The room was full of a well-ordered activity, and the voices that spoke around him were urgent, though he wasn't awake enough to process what they were saying. He couldn't even really tell who said what.

"They are onto us. Three vehicles full of Federal agents moving this direction. I can't tell if they are tracking us somehow, or if they are checking everywhere, hoping to get lucky."

A picture of a young bcomputer genius swam into his head, along with a name, "Hardison", though he had no way of knowing for sure that either was correct. The same voice spoke again.

"If we leave now, we can go out the other way, and they won't see us."

"Go! Check the van before we leave to be sure they can't track us." A pause, and then the gravelly voice spoke again. "Everybody else, we've got to get all of this cleaned up. I don't want them to know we've ever been here. Out the back door, and into the van. Hurry. "

There was a flurry of activity, and he felt himself swaying gently as he moved forward. He felt a shock of cold air, and then felt a mild burst of pain as he felt himself lowered onto a hard surface. Someone sat beside him in the darkness, but he couldn't really see who it was. Everything—every sight, every sound, every touch was muted, distorted, strange. Gentle fingers probed his back, and then he felt himself lowered until he was lying down. He felt a hand on his good shoulder. A moment later, the back doors of the van closed, and then three doors up front slammed as well, and the van began moving quickly and smoothly through the night.

He felt a hand on his chest. "Go back to sleep, Nate. Everything is fine." He still didn't understand the words, but the voice and the touch was soothing, and along with the vibrations from the van, invited sleep. He closed his eyes again.


	6. Chapter 6

_Using a compass, they extrapolated the location of the pirate ship, and they set off in that direction. After three hours of hard sailing, they had the pirate ship in their sights, but they were still far enough away not to be a threat, and that's the way Nate wanted to keep it. Eli had finally convinced Nate to go back to his quarters and get some rest. He would rather wait until they made port somewhere, and sneak Catherine away while everyone had their backs turned, than engage the Pirate captain with a crew of townspeople. After sailing for three days, they were caught up in a storm at sea. This didn't feel like an ordinary storm. Ocean swells rose higher and higher as the ship was tossed though the choppy sea. Wind whistled over the ocean, thunder cracked and lightning flared through the dimness of the clouds. When the rain finally stopped, and they sailed out of the clouds, they were in a cove, facing a sparkling city they had never seen before. Gypsy music played from somewhere, and the streets were bustling with activity. The pirate ship was docked at the community docks. Eli Spence watched with a spyglass as the pirate captain disembarked his ship, dragging Catherine behind him. _

_Eli knew he'd be hard pressed to keep Nate on the ship, but he had to try. The man didn't need to be going anywhere right now. He needed to be resting, regaining his strength. He was heading to a meeting in the captain's cabin, wondering if there was anything he could say to get Nate to stay behind and let them go. As he climbed the stairs to the main deck, he heard loud, agitated voices coming from above him. Drawing closer, he realized that Nate and Catherine's father were squaring off on the deck. _

"_Nathan, you're in no shape to go. Stay here and rest. We can handle the rescue operation. If we're lucky, we can be out and gone and he won't know until it's too late."_

"_What's your plan for that?"_

_Eli didn't want to hear any more of the uncomfortable conversation, and he was sure the two men having it didn't want it overheard either. He backed back down the stairs, and waited until the voices died down before approaching again. When he came back onto the main deck, Nate was standing at the port rail, looking out over the water. _

_Nate looked at him as he walked up to meet his captain, and said, "I need you to supervise the rescue efforts, and bring Catherine safely back aboard. Keep an eye on her father for me."_

"_Yes sir." He didn't know what Catherine's father said to his captain, but he had never seen him back down this easily before. _

_After stationing men to watch all of the major areas of the city, they finally spotted Catherine. She was sitting in the center of a large group of people, knee deep in the pirate's men. As each area was cleared, the men were sent back to the ship. There was no way of knocking them all out or getting her away without their notice. In the end, it was Catherine herself who helped them effect her rescue. Two hours later, most of the men surrounding her had already passed out or were on the verge because they drank too much, which cut down on the numbers of the opposition considerably. She rose and one of the men near her asked where she was going. _

"_I must have eaten something that doesn't agree with me. I am going outside for a moment."He started to follow, and she spoke again, "Please, I am just going to step outside behind the nearest bushes. I don't wish to be sick in front of everyone here. I would like some privacy." He hesitated for a moment, but couldn't deny that that was true. There are simply some things which require some privacy. _

"_Straight out and back, Madam. If you aren't back in five minutes, I am coming out there."_

_Nodding, Catherine slipped away. Seeing that she was moving his direction, Eli took out the two men guarding the entrance, and slipped away ahead of her, to make sure she had no trouble making it back to the ship. She looked straight ahead, walking slowly and deliberately back toward the docks. As she passed a small, nondescript, stone building, a hand reached out and pulled her inside. Another hand encircled her mouth, so she couldn't scream. She heard a sharp scratch, and then a light flared, and a gas lamp illuminated the immediate area around her in the room. The hands holding her spun her around, and she found herself looking at Eli Spence. _

"_Shhh," he said, putting a finger to his lips. "I found a tunnel that goes directly to the dock where our rowboat waits to take us back to the ship. Nate is waiting for you there. Follow me."_

_With that, he raised a wooden trap door, and helped her down the stone stairs, and then he climbed down after her, closing the door behind him. The rest of the trip back to the small rowboat at the dock was uneventful. Catherine almost squealed in delight when she saw her father there waiting for them, but she remembered at the last moment that they were trying to be quiet, and cut herself off. Catherine's father, Eli, and the other men in the boat made short work of rowing back to Nate's ship. Nate was waiting on the main deck when they boarded the ship. _

"_Nate," Catherine screamed when she saw him, and ran across the deck to embrace him. He staggered slightly under her weight, mostly because he was injured, but he was holding on to the railing, so it wasn't really a problem. _

_When she let go, he offered her his arm, and said, "Catherine. Shall we catch up?"_

_Smiling, Catherine nodded, and they moved together toward the staircase that would take them below decks. The rest of the crew dispersed to their various duties and Nate and Catherine retired to his quarters, where he had arranged to have the ship's cook deliver them dinner. _

_After a romantic, candlelit dinner, they danced to music on the phonograph, and drank fine wine and champagne from the ship's stores. As the evening progressed, and both of them began to feel the effects of the alcohol, they began to realize how long it had been since they had been together, and the urgency of their circumstances grew stronger. Nate pulled her in for a long, deep kiss, and as he did so, his hands found the buttons on the front of her dress, and began unfastening them. He slid the heavy velvet off her shoulders, and let it fall to the floor. As he traced kisses down her neck and shoulder, her hands began fumbling with the fastenings of his pants. Her petticoats and corset fell to the ground next, and his shirt followed close behind. They made a trail of clothing through the captain's quarters. Dancing her around the room, he pinned her against the wall, and his mouth found hers, as he lifted her up and pressed his body against hers. A flush colored her skin, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, and her hands buried themselves deep in his hair. He spun her back around to his bed, where he threw himself onto the bed, taking her along with him. She flipped him over on his back, tracing small designs down his bare chest with her fingernails, and his hands tightened on her arms, and pulled her closer, kissing her deeply. _

_After a moment, they came up for air, and she looked Nate in the eye. "I seem to have lost the heart shaped silver necklace you gave me. I think one of the pirate's goons pulled it off in the warehouse when they were holding me there."_

_Smiling at her, he reached into a tiny drawer in his desk, and took out the newly cleaned and polished necklace, and fastened it around her neck once again._

_Still thinking about her ordeal, she said, "I'm glad you sent your man to rescue me from that warehouse. I couldn't have left on my own with an injured ankle, and they were threatening to set the place on fire."_

_Suddenly, Catherine and the captain's quarters, and the ship, and everything else around Nate disappeared, and he was standing in front of the warehouse his father was in, watching as the gantry doors blew, showering huge chunks of burning metal down on top of him. He yelled, "Noooo," and as he felt the sensation of being thrown backwards, he thought he continued yelling no, even when he could no longer hear it over the roar of the explosion and the very loud silence that followed from the blast against his eardrums. He didn't even realize his eye and his mouth and one of his ears was bleeding. He didn't feel the moisture because of everything else. It was all just too much, and he thought he blacked out for a moment. Someone was gently touching him, calling his name, and tugging on his jacket to help him sit up. He couldn't hear the man at first, and though he thought he looked familiar, didn't recognize him immediately either. _

"_Nate," a gravelly voice called. "Nate. Are you all right?" _

He opened his eyes to total darkness, and was confused at first, not having a clue where he was. A moment later, he heard a clicking noise, and then a light came on. He thought it was a flashlight, but it was a small, portable lantern, and as he came back to himself, he saw a concerned Eliot looking down at him, and realized he was still lying in the back of Hardison's van. He held out a hand, and Eliot helped him sit up.

"Bad dreams, Nate?"

He nodded once, in what he hoped was a dismissive fashion, not really wanting to talk about what those dreams entailed.

"We'll discuss it later," Eliot said, and Nate knew he wouldn't forget, but he would deal with that when the time came. "How are you feeling?" the retrieval specialist asked quietly.

"Like I've been hit by a truck, but I'll live. Where are we?"

"We can't go back to your apartment until we know it is safe. We all decided to split up for a few months. We don't know how far afield they are looking, but our aliases aren't safe, if they decide to flag them. We are going to the airport. Hardison and Parker will fly out together tonight. Sophie will drive out toward Oklahoma, and we'll put her on a plane to Portland in a couple of days. You and I are going to hole up on some family land that is never used until you are well enough to travel, and then we will split up. You will join Sophie in Portland, and I am going, well, on a vacation of sorts. We will all rendezvous in Portland in three months. Should be safe enough by then."

"Sounds like a plan, Nate said, eyelids growing heavy again. Eliot noticed and helped him lie back down. "If I don't get to say goodbye before you leave, be safe, and I will see you all when we meet again." With that, he drifted off to sleep once more.


End file.
